Carlton receivers work on their ball control during practice at Max Clunie Field on Sept. 10, 2025. (Logan Lehmann/paNOW Staff)

By Logan Lehmann

High School Football

Carlton ready to defend 5A provincial title as season gets underway Friday

Sep 11, 2025 | 2:12 PM

The reigning 5A Provincial Champions are set to storm the grid iron on Friday night as the Carlton Crusaders kick off the new North Saskatchewan Football League (NSFL) season on home turf.

The team is set to host the North Battleford Comprehensive Vikings at Max Clunie Field after they dropped their lone preseason contest a week earlier on Sept. 5, falling 23-8 to the Holy Rosary Raiders from Alberta.

Crusaders head coach Lindsay Strachan said playing a quality opponent like Holy Rosary helps shake off the rust heading into the regular season.

“We got a good taste of a real good team last week, and [they] showed us a few things we need to improve on, so we’re hoping to be better this week. I thought we hung in there physically and just the execution for us early here just wasn’t kind of at the level to ultimately pull one out.”

Although the game was labelled as just a pre-season matchup, the contest held a more significant meaning stemming from last season, where both Carlton and Holy Rosary won their respective provincial championships. The Crusaders won in Saskatchewan 5A, and the Raiders won in Alberta 3A.

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Despite the division difference, Holy Rosary was more than likely the biggest test Carlton will face all season. According to CanadaFootballChat.com, the Raiders have been to nine straight provincial finals and are third in their top ten national rankings list, while Carlton sits at eighth and is the highest-ranked school out of Saskatchewan.

With Carlton being unofficially ranked nationally, Strachan brushed it off as a “background thing”.

“It’s not a big deal to me. It [might be] a bigger deal to the kids, but yeah, I know it’s there, but I don’t really pay too close attention to it.”

CanadaFootballChat.com’s unofficial national rankings list for ‘small schools’ as of Sept. 11, 2025. (CanadaFootballChat.com)

The biggest change entering the year for Carlton is their face at quarterback after Sullivan Smith-Windsor graduated this past June. Strachan said that torch has been passed on to Colm Phillips and mentioned the decision to go with him was an easy one.

“He’s a good athlete that was involved in our offence last year as a receiver, so he’s got a pretty good grasp of what’s going on. He’s worked hard on his mechanics over the course of the winter to be a better thrower, he’s kind of embraced the challenge, and he’s been great to work with. He’s doing well, and there’s lots of learning always at that position, but he’s taking it on, and he’s doing it positively. He’s been a good leader for us, really impressed with him so far.”

With North Battleford first on the schedule this season, Strachan expects it to be nothing short of a dog fight.

“It’s always a tough game when North Battleford rolls into town, so we’re expecting it to be a physical test. They always play us tough, and that’s the forever history of Carlton-North Battleford to way back, so we know we’re in for a physical battle and we’ve got to be up to the challenge.”

Kick off for Carlton’s first game of the North Saskatchewan Football League season is set for 6:30 p.m. Following Friday’s game, the Cru will be back at Max Clunie Field on Sept. 19 when they welcome the Aden Bowman Bears from Saskatoon in their only exhibition game of the season.

A full NSFL schedule can be found by clicking here.

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loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

On Bluesky: @loganlehmann.bsky.social